Refuting "The Reality of Sufism"
Well first of all read http://www.masud.co.uk/ISLAM/nuh/sufism.htm
This is the refutation of a Salafi book found here:
http://salafidawah.tripod.com/sufism.pdf
"Likewise they have
removed the spirit of jihaad, which is to fight in the way of Allaah, with what
they claim to be the greater jihaad, i.e. striving against ones own soul
(jihaadun-nafs). They base this upon the saying: "We have returned from the
lesser jihaad to the greater jihaad: striving against ones own soul." Whereas
this is a baseless Hadeeth and has provided the opportunity in the previous
two centuries for colonialist powers to occupy most of the Muslim lands, and
Sufism has not ceased pitching its tent in all areas of the lands of the
Muslims." (pg. 8)
Response from Shaykh Gibril Haddad:
Allah Most High said:
{Have you seen the one who chooses for his god his own lust?} (25:43). {He followed his own lust. Therefore his likeness is as the likeness of a dog; if you attack him he pants with his tongue out and if you leave him he pants with his tongue out} (7:176). These are both also Meccan Suras.
About the person who controlled the passion of his ego Allah says: {But as for him who feared to stand before his Lord and restrained his soul from lust, Lo! The garden will be his home} (79:40-41). This is also a Meccan Sura.
The above are among the many Meccan verses and Suras enjoining jihad al-nafs. One that denies that there was/is such a Divine command commits kufr. Such a command cannot mean military jihad, as there was no permission - much less an order - for such a jihad until the Madinan period.
Further, the Prophet said, upon him peace:
1. << The mujahid is he who makes jihad against his nafs (ego) for the sake of obeying Allah. >>
- Ibn Hibban (#1624, 2519): Authentic;
- Shu`ayb al-Arna'ut (Commentary on Ibn Hibban): authentic;
- al-Hakim: sahih;
- `Iraqi confirms him;
- it is also in Tirmidhi, Ahmad, and Tabarani;
- Albani included it in the "Sahiha".
2. "`A'isha, Allah be well-pleased with her, asked:
'Messenger of Allah, we see jihad as the best of deeds, so shouldn't we join it?' He replied, 'But the best jihad is a perfect Hajj (pilgrimage to Makkah).'" (Sahih Al-Bukhari #2784)
3. On another occasion, a man asked: "Should I join the jihad?" The Prophet asked, upon him peace, "Do you have parents?" The man said yes. The Prophet said: "Then do jihad by serving them!" (Sahih Al-Bukhari #5972)
4. Another man asked: "What kind of jihad is better?" The Prophet replied, upon him peace: "A word of truth spoken in front of an oppressive ruler." (Sunan Al-Nasa'i #4209)
5. The Prophet also said, upon him peace: << The strong one is not the one who overcomes people, the strong one is he who overcomes his nafs ego]. >>
Al-Haythami declared it authentic in Majma` al-Zawa'id.
6. The Prophet, upon him peace, said to Abu Sa`id al-Khudri:
"Even if one strikes unbelievers and idolaters with his sword until it breaks, and he is *completely* dyed with their blood, the Rememberers of Allah are above him one degree."
The above authentic hadiths provide additional explicit evidence - especially 1 and 5 - refuting the lie that "all the evidence for jihad al-nafs is fabricated or weak."
Further:
Allah Most High is Tayyibun and accepts only the Tayyib. He declares in the Qur'an that He accepts acts of worship only if they are based on:
- purification of the self (qad aflaha man zakkaha)
- soundness of the heart (illa man ata Allaha bi-qalbin salim)
- an humble spirit (wa-innaha lakabiratun illa `alal khashi`in)
Purification of the Intention is the general heading for these. That is why the Imams (e.g. Bukhari, Shafi`i, Nawawi) always began their books of fiqh with the hadith of intention: "Actions count only according to intention."
An act outwardly considered worship but performed without pure intention is not considered worship, even fighting and dying in defense of Muslims. The Prophet, upon him peace, explicitly said of one such fighter that he was bound for the fire.
In fact, purification of intention is needed for all five pillars of Islam. Such purification is a fard `ayn and is required of all.
Thus those that claim there is no jihad al-nafs in Islam have imperiled their Islam and might make their shahada, salat, zakat, sawm, hajj, AND jihad worthless. Allah is our refuge from this.
http://www.sunnipath.com/resources/Q...a00001990.aspx
"Why is it called by this name? The word Sufism is taken from a Greek word
'Sophia' meaning wisdom. It is also said that it is a word referring to the
wearing of woollen (soof) clothing, and this saying is the most probable since
wearing woollen clothes was a sign of Zuhd (abstemiousness/disassociation from
the worldly life). It was said that this was done in order to resemble 'Eesaa ibn
Maryam 'alaihis-salaam. Shaykhul-Islaam Ibn Taymiyyah rahimahullaah, mentions
in al-Fataawaa (11/7) from Muhammad ibn Seereen [A Famous tabi'ee who died in
the year 110H] that it reached him that a certain people had taken to wearing
woollen clothes in order to resemble 'Eesaa ibn Maryam, so he said:
“There are a people who have chosen and preferred the
wearing of woollen clothes, claiming that they want to
resemble al-Maseeh ibn Maryam. But the way of our
Prophet is more beloved to us, and the Prophet used
to wear cotton and other garments.”" - (pg. 9)
Shaykh Hisham Kabbani says:
Tasawwuf is a technical term which describes the state of Ihsan, as mentioned in the famous hadith of Jibril, and the process of Tazkiyyat an-Nafs, purification of the self which is mentioned in the Holy Qur'an. That is acceptable in Islam, as long as it does not contain superstition (shawwaza). We have said many times that we do not believe in nor follow superstition. We accept Tazkiyyat an-Nafs and the state of Ihsan, purification of the heart, as it is an *important* part of the Sunnah of the Prophet (s) and the teachings of the Holy Qur'an. We are following the definition of Tasawwuf that was clearly and extensively explained by Ibn Taymiyya, Ibn Qayyim and Ibn Kathir and all other great scholars of the other four schools of Islamic Shari'ah.
Now if some our brothers and sisters in Islam are not aware of that matter, it doesn't mean that matter doesn't exist. The word Tasawwuf by itself is simply a term, which can be interchanged by any other appropriate term. It is used to explain the concepts of Tazkiyyat an-Nufus and Ihsan. To say one is Sufi is like one saying "I graduated from Azhar, I am Azhari." It is simply applying a title or an adjective. It doesn't mean one isn't Muslim. The word "Azhari" isn't found in Qur'an or Hadith. However, it is a term which is used to identify a concept quickly.
If one doesn't like the *term* Tasawwuf he shouldn't use it. He can use some other term, of which there are many
The Linguistic Roots of the Word 'Tasawwuf'
There are four roots given to the word "tasawwuf." The first of the roots of the word tasawwuf is from the Arabic word "safa." This word means "pure like crystal, transparent like water." It is used to refer to the purity and transparency of a clean heart.
There are many other explanations for the word "tasawwuf." Another one is that it is derived from "Ahl as-Suffa," (the People of the Bench), who were the people who lived in the Mosque of the Prophet (s) during his life and who were mentioned in the Qur'an in the following verse: "Wasbir nafsaka ma`a alladheena yad`una rabbahum bil-ghadaati wal-`aashiyi yureeduna wajhahu wa laa ta`duw `aynaaka `anhu tureedu zeenat al-hayaat id-dunya wa laa tuti` man aghfalna qalbahu `an dhikrina wat-tabba`a hawaahu wa kaana amruhu furuta." (Kahf, 28).
"[O Muhammad,] keep yourself content with those who call on their Lord morning and evening seeking His Face; and let not your eyes pass beyond them, seeking the pomp and glitter of this life; nor obey any whose hearts whom We have permitted to neglect the Remembrance of Us, the one who follows his own desires, whose case has gone beyond all bounds."
This verse emphasizes how much the believers have to keep themselves in the state of Dhikr, Recollection of God on the tongue, in the mind and through the heart.
The third of these roots is the word "as-siffa"--"the characteristics or attributes of carrying goodness and leaving badness"
The fourth linguistic root is from "Souffattul-kaffa" which means "a soft sponge" as the Sufi, which is the noun derived from that word, is like a sponge, whose heart is very soft due to its purity. That is why the Prophet (s) was always showing such concern for his Sahaba, in order to purify their hearts and to show them that improvement of the self is based on the improvement of the heart and its being cured of all diseases, internal and external.
http://www.sunnah.org/tasawwuf/great...net_debate.htm
"As regards the first appearance of Sufism, then the word ‘Sufism’ was not
known in the time of the Companions, indeed it was not well-known in the
first and best three centuries. Rather it became known after the end of the
first three centuries.
Shaykhul-Islaam Ibn Taymiyyah rahimahullaah, mentions that the first
appearance of Sufism was in Basrah in 'Iraaq, where some people went to
extremes in worship and in avoiding the worldly life, such as was not seen in
other lands. [Al-Fataawaa (11/6)]" (pg. 9)
Shaykh Hisham Kabbani says:
"If people will look back deeply into history they will find that after the brave work of the Sahaba, (the Companions of the Prophet(s)), Islam spread East and West and to the Far East through the dawa' and irshad of the scholars and followers of Tasawwuf (Sufism), who followed the True Way of the Caliphs of the Prophet (s)--radi-Allahu 'anhum. They were the scholars of true Sufism, which upholds the teachings of the Qur'an and Sunnah and has never deviated from them.
Islamic zuhd (asceticism) flourished in the first Hijri century and developed into schools that had their foundation and basis of their teachings in the Sunnah and Shari'ah, propagated by zahid scholars who came to be known as the Sufis. Among them were the first four Imams, Imam Malik, Imam Abu Hanifa, Imam Shafi'i and Imam Ahmad Ibn Hanbal, as well as al-Imam Abi 'Abdallah Muhammad AL-BUKHARI, Abul Husain MUSLIM bin al-Hajjaj, Abu 'Isa TIRMIDHI. Others were Hasan al-Basri, al-Junaid, Imam Awzai' And later these included at-Tabarani, Imam Jalaluddin as-Suyuti, ibn Hajar al-Haythami, al-Jardani, ibn Qayyim al-Jawzi, Imam Muhyiddin bin Sharaf bin Mari bin Hassan bin Husain bin Hazam bin NAWAWI, Imam Abu Hamid GHAZALI, Sayyid Ahmad al-Farouqi Sirhindi, to name a few. The Muslim world has come to know Islam through the efforts of these zahid scholars who were known as Sufis because of their loyalty, sincerity and purity of heart."...
Imam Malik in his famous saying said, "man tasawaffa wa lam yatafaqa faqad tazandaqa, wa man tafaqaha wa lam yatasawaf faqad tafasaq, wa man tasawaffa wa tafaqaha faqad tahaqaq."
which means: " Whoever studied Tasawwuf without Fiqh is a heretic, and whoever studied Fiqh without Tasawwuf is corrupted, and whoever studied Tasawwuf and Fiqh will find the Truth and Reality of Islam."
Imam Amad relates in his Musnad the following hadith with a rigorously authentic (sahih) chain of transmission:
"Abu Bakr does not surpass you for fasting much or praying, but because of a secret that took root in his heart."
The Prophet (s) alluded to this secret when he said, in the following hadiths mentioned respectively by Suyuti in al-hawi li-l-Fatawa and by Bukhari in his Sahih.
"Whatever Allah poured into my breast I have poured into the breast of Abu Bakr as-Siddiq."
"Allah has expanded my breast for what He has expanded the breast of Abu Bakr and cUmar to receive."
This knowledge is again alluded to in the following authentic hadith related by Tirmidhi:
"I am the City of Knowledge and cAli is the Door."
This knowledge is the heavenly knowledge possessed only by prophets and their inheritors, the saints. The latter are defined thus by sayyidina cAli (r):
"They are the fewest in number, the greatest in rank in the sight of God. By them does God protect His creation. They are His proof on earth, until they bequeath it to their likes, and plant it firmly in their hearts. By them knowledge has taken by assault the reality of things, so that they found easy what those given to comfort found hard, and found intimacy in what the ignorant found desolate. They accompanied the world with bodies whose spirits were attached to the Highest Regard. They are the vicegerents of Allah, the Exalted, in His land. How one yearns, how one yearns to see them!"
http://www.sunnah.org/tasawwuf/sufidef.html
http://www.sunnah.org/tasawwuf/preface.htm#preface
"It is possible to divide the ideologies of the extreme Sufees into three
categories.
(1) The first category: Followers of the Illuminist school of philosophy. They
are those who give greater importance to the philosophical ideas over
avoidance of the worldly life. What is meant by 'Illuminism' is that the soul is
illuminated by light, which diffuses in the heart and is a result of spiritual
exercises, training the soul and punishing the body in order to rectify and
purify the spirit. This is something, which may be a characteristic of all Sufis,
except that the people of this category draw the line here and do not fall into
what those who claim that Allaah dwells within His creation fall into, or that
everything is Allaah. However this way of theirs is contrary to the teachings of
Islaam and is taken from the deviated religions such as Buddhism and its like." (p.10).
Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali says:
This is the reality of the station of ihsan indicated in the hadith of Jibril, peace be upon him, and the people of these stations have different degrees according to the strength of penetration of their inner sight.
A party of the people of knowledge explained the "most exalted designation" mentioned in His words, exalted is He, "His is the most exalted designation in the heavens and the earth," (Surat ar-Rum 27) with this meaning, and similarly His words, exalted is He, "Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth. The metaphor of His Light is that of a niche in which there is a lamp." (Surat an-Nur: 35) What is meant by "the metaphor of His Light" is "in the heart of the mumin", which is what Ubayy ibn Ka'b and others of the right-acting first generations said.
http://www.sunnipath.com/resources/Q...a00000878.aspx
Ibn al-Jawzi says:
Abu Bakr al-Siddiq said: "Whoever hates his ego for Allah's sake, Allah will protect Him against what He hates."
Anas said: I heard `Umar say as he was alone behind a wall: "Bakh, bakh! Bravo, well done, O my ego! By Allah, you had better fear Allah, O little son of Khattab, or he will punish you!"
Al-Bakhtari ibn Haritha said: "I saw one of the devoted worshippers sitting in front of a fire which he had kindled as he was castigating his ego, and he did not stop castigating his ego until he died."
One of them said: "When the saints are mentioned, I say to myself: Fie on you and fie on you again."
Know that your worst enemy is the ego that lies between your two flanks. It has been created a tyrant commanding to evil, always pushing you towards it, and you have been ordered to straighten it, cleanse it (tazkiyat), wean it from what it feeds on, and drag it in chains, subdued, to the worship of its Lord
http://www.sunnah.org/tasawwuf/scholar17.htm
The ego, or nafs, is fought against, the carnal desires. The "light of Iman" comes from Islam, not some Illuminist philosophy.
"(2) The second ideology is that of those who believe in hulool, those who say
that Allaah dwells and is incarnate in human beings, High is Allaah above and
far removed from that." (pg. 9)
True Sufis are from Ahlul Sunnah, and the position of Ahlul Sunnah is that Allah (SWT) is beyond time and space, the creator of them and not bound by them.
Imam al-Ghazali says:
Allah is not a body possessing form, nor a substance restricted and limited: He does not resemble other bodies either in limitation or in accepting division.
He is not a substance and substances do not reside in Him; He is not a quality of substance, nor does a quality of substance occur in Him.
Rather, He resembles no existent and no existent resembles Him. Nothing is like Him and He is not like anything. Measure does not bind Him and boundaries do not contain Him. Directions do not surround Him and neither the earth nor the Heavens are on different sides of Him.
"(3) The third ideology is that of wahdatul-wujood, i.e. that all in existence is
a single reality, and that everything we see is only aspects of the Essence of
Allaah." (pg. 9)
Umm Sahl (Wife of Shaykh Nuh) states:
The first issue that we'll look at, inshallah, is the "doctrine of the unity of existence (wahdat al-wujud)". I would rather translate this as "oneness of being" as I believe this more accurately represents what is meant by this concept. Akram wrote the following after translating one of the poems of Sheikh `Abd al-Ghani from his Diwan al-Haqa'iq (Collected Poems of Higher Spiritual Realities), "Notice the doctrine of "unity of existence (wahdat al-wujud)", which is to believe that the existence of all things is one and that existence itself is Allah. Exalted is Allah Most High above their Satanic heresy". Akram has made the common mistake of taking this concept of "oneness of being" in its ostensive sense, as would be expected, as this is what comes to mind from the literal meaning of the words and he hasn't been exposed to any other definition.
In order to understand this concept we will first have to look at how existence is defined by the Imams of tenets of faith (`aqida). In the Ahl al-Sunna schools of `aqida existence or being is divided into three categories. The first is necessarily existent (wajib al-wujud), which defines the existence of Allah Most High. Allah Most High exists independently through Himself and His existence is necessary for the existence of all other things. None of His creation share in His existence. It is to this category of being that the Sufis are referring when they say "oneness of being (wahdat al-wujud)". The second category is contingent existence (al-wujud al-mumkin). This defines the existence of created things that may or may not exist. Created things have no independent being and their existence is not necessary. Allah Most High brought them into being through His will, power and knowledge and if He willed they would have no existence. Creation only exists through Him giving it being, so in this sense it exists through Him, but doesn't share in His independent, necessary being. The third category is impossible being (mustahil al-wujud), which includes the existence of a co-sharer in Allah's entity, attributes or actions, which is impossible both according to revelation and the intellect.
If the difference between necessary existence (wajib al-wujud) and contingent existence (mumkin al-wujud) is clearly understood, then a lot of difficulty in Sufi literature is explained. When the Sufis such as `Abd al-Ghani refer to "oneness of being", they are referring to the existence of Allah Most High. Creation is not what is intended. Created things have no being in themselves in the sense that the movement of a puppet points to the presence of the puppeteer, or a shadow that something is making the shadow. If the puppeteer stopped pulling the strings the puppets being would come to an end. Is the puppet the same as the puppeteer and share in his existence? No. Could the puppet exist without the existence of the puppeteer? No. Does the puppet have a true existence that is in any way parallel to or comparable to the existence of the puppeteer? No. If not that Allah created us and sustains every moment of our life, we would have no life. Does this mean that we are Allah? Certainly not. Is our existence independent of Allah? No. Does our appearance of being in any way resemble the independent being of Allah Most High? No.
That what Sheikh `Abd al-Ghani meant when referring to "oneness of being" was the necessary existence of Allah and not creation
http://www.masud.co.uk/ISLAM/misc/nabulsi.htm
"He also says in al-Fatoohaat:
"Those who worshipped the calf worshipped nothing except Allaah.”
Quoted as Ibn 'Arabee's saying by Ibn Tayrniyyah in al Fataawaa (vol.11)
who attributes it to the book al Fatoohaat.
Ibn ‘Arabee is called ‘al-‘Aarif billaah’ (The one having great knowledge of
Allaah) by the Sufis, and also ‘al-Qutubul Akbar’ (The great pivot), ‘al-Miskul-
Adhfar’ (the sweetest smelling musk), ‘al-Kibreetul-Ahmar’ (the reddest
brimstone), despite his belief in wahdatul-wujood and other calamitous
sayings. Indeed he praised Fir'awn (Pharaoh) and declared that he died upon
eemaan! Furthermore he speaks against Haroon for his criticism of his peoples
worship of the calf, thus directly opposing the text of the Qur'aan. He also
held that the Christians were Unbelievers only because they made divinity
particular to 'Eesaa, whereas if they had made it general to all then they
would not have been unbelievers. [Despite all the gross deviation of Ibn 'Arabee and
the fact that the scholars declared him to be an Unbeliever, yet he is revered by the Sufis
and others who do not distinguish between the truth and falsehood, and those who turn
away from accepting the truth even when it is as clear as the sun. But his books, which are
filled with clear apostasy, such as al-Fatoohaatul-Makkiyyah and Fusoosul-Hikam are still
circulated." (pg. 9)
These accusations have been refuted a thousand times, check http://www.sunnipath.com/resources/Q...a00003428.aspx for Shaykh Gibril Haddad's ultimate refutation.
Now i'm taking a break. My purpose in doing this is not to start an argument. I am simply organizing the replies of our various Shuyokh.
Jazakallahu Khayrun
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